2018.09.1900:45:00UTC+00Malaysia's Inflation Eases More Than Forecast

Malaysia's inflation eased more-than-expected in August on fuel cost, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Wednesday.

Consumer price inflation slowed to 0.2 percent in August, the lowest rate within 42 months, the statistical office said. The rate was expected to drop to 0.4 percent from 0.9 percent in July.

The slowdown was largely driven by cost of fuel which caused the index of transport to rise 2.1 percent compared to the 6.7 percent increase logged in July.

Also, prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels advanced 2 percent, education by 1.1 percent and food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 0.4 percent, contributing to the increase in annual inflation.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.2 percent. During January to August, consumer prices registered an annual growth of 1.3 percent.